Accordion players from Eastern Romania appear on Helsinki streets

Roma musicians take over spots where compatriots begged

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Tunes from the east of Romania resounded through the centre of Helsinki on Tuesday.
      About half a dozen accordion players had arrived from the Bacau region, usurping - at least for the time being - the spots that had been staked out by Roma beggars from Romania.
      Roger Pruteanu, from Valea Seaca, about 70 kilometres south of the city of Bacau, played his instrument on Kaivokatu near Helsinki's main railway station.
      Roger, an 18-year-old Roma, said that he travels with his father, Remus Pruteanu, 33, and his 16-year-old brother Ion Pruteanu.
      All three play the accordion. "I learned it at home", Roger says.
     
Roger Pruteanu says that he wants to earn money to go to school. He says that the earns up to 15 euros a day.
      He says that his ten-kilometre commute to school at home is by bus. They also came to Finland by bus, via Sweden. Staying behind at home are Roger's mother, three sisters, and three brothers.
      According to Pruteanu, all of his siblings go to school. When asked what he hopes to be when he finishes school, he answers "car mechanic" - apparently a fairly common dream job in today's Romania.
      Pruteanu said that he does not know his compatriot who was begging on the corner of the Sokos department store. However, the praying position that they take is familiar to them.
      "We belong to the Salvation Army", he says of his family.
     
Special researcher Johanna Seppälä of the City of Helsinki says that it appears that the group of beggars has changed.
      The number of Romanian Roma beggars has plummeted, largely replaced by the buskers.
      "Could this be the result of reports spreading in the Romanian media about Helsinki and that officials here have begun to check beggars?" Seppälä ponders.
     
A large group of beggars left Helsinki about two weeks ago. Helsingin Sanomat has learned that they were given their travel money from a private benefactor.
      City officials wonder if this is an indication that some kind of an organisation is at work. "This is a sign that we must not be gullible. This is a change of shifts", Seppälä concluded at that time.
      According to information uncovered by Helsingin Sanomat, the Roma who left two weeks ago did so because there was a threat that their children at home would be taken into foster care.
      Seppälä has not heard that Romanian officials would have taken a tougher line. About two million Romanians who are not part of any ethnic minority work outside the country. Many parents have left their children to the care of their grandparents, which is an extensive problem in Romania.
      "It would be clear discrimination", Seppälä said, pondering the possibility that Roma parents would have been singled out.
      "Romania has a law on child protection, but it is poorly implemented."
     
Officials in different parts of Finland said during the weekend that the spring has brought more beggars to Finland. Seppälä says that it would not be surprising if the phenomenon were to spread into the interior of the country this summer.
      "Already last summer there were messages from smaller communities. There is simply not enough street space in Helsinki."


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Nordic Countries seek solution to itinerant beggar problem (7.4.2008)
  OSCE´s Andrezej Mirga: Education of Roma key to everything (7.3.2008)
  Finn working with Roma in Romania does not expect flood of beggars in Helsinki (13.2.3008)
  Helsinki sends beggar mothers back to Romania on child welfare grounds (11.2.2008)
  Romanian beggars now spread across the country (28.4.2008)

Helsingin Sanomat